If silver gainsaid gold yesterday, today gold gainsaid silver. The GOLD PRICE augmented $3.20 to end trading at $1,612.90, but silver diminished 6/10 cent to 2800c. They aren't so much rolling over as they are plumb dead stopped in the middle of the road. The two charts are virtually identical. The GOLD PRICE ceiling is at $1,615+ and silver's at 2825c. Long as gold holds above $1,600 and the SILVER PRICE above 2760c, they'll be okay.

Just to inoculate y'all against complacency, remember that sometimes markets go flat because nobody is interested and it's August, but sometimes because the buying and selling forces are evenly balanced. Give one or the other a tiny foothold, and you get a big movement. Not likely right here, but possible, and worth looking over your shoulder for.

In poker you generally draw cards to the most likely hand, that is, you don't draw to inside straights or straight flushes. Likewise, the overwhelming likelihood here is that we are simply watching August walk out its slow path as silver and gold build a platform for a big rally in September.

I reckon everybody but the politicians has gone to the beach, or else they're all lying low in the house because it's so hot outside. Markets are dead. In Europe, August is vacation month, so nothing much ever happens there in August.

When you have nothing to say, the best course is to shut your mouth to keep your empty foolishness trapped inside. Of course, being a natural born fool, I am not clever enough to do that, so I will comment anyway.

Stocks today took a rest. Traded raggedly up and down all day, just wheel-spinning. After several trips above and below unchanged, Dow managed to cling to 7.04 points (0.05%) and close photogenically up at 13,175.64.

S&P500 rose a mighty 0.87 (0.06%) to 1,404.22. Stocks are probably not stalling here, but only catching breath for another leg up, at least to this year's highs. That doesn't mean they have legs I want to dance with, just that stocks will rise to draw in a few more victims for the bear.

US Dollar rose 16.4 basis points from where it traded this time yesterday. But at 82.384 it remains below the barrier left above at 82.50 over the last three days. Looks like it's aiming to take up a more humble seat.

Japanese yen is trading in a tight little range. Rose 0.14% today to 127.43c (Y78.47). Forming a rounding top, it seems.

If I were trying to salvage the euro, I think I'd just go ahead and get a new job. ECB Criminal-In-Chief Mario Draghi managed to lift it on a cloud of hot gas and empty promises from $1.2042 to $1.2442. Now the gas is floating away, and gravity is wreaking it's awaited vengeance. Euro lost 0.33% today to end at $1.2355. Unless it can (1) break through $1.2500, and immediately climb over $1.2750, the euro is, as they say in the oyster-canning business, way too ripe.

LAST CALL for the Bodacious Hoedown: Saturday, 1 September 2012 from 1 pm to 9 pm we'll have an afternoon of field games, from Kiss the Pig to a dunk tank and tug of war. For supper we'll dine on our own Top of the World farm pork and chicken. After supper The Georgia Crackers, an old time band, will play and T-Claw will call the dances. Then we'll all dance in the grass till the stars get tired.

It's all free. Even supper. My family has lost their minds.

But there's one catch: you must let us know that you're coming. Send Justin an email at [email protected] and tell him you're coming and with how many. Ask him for directions. We're about 2 hours south of Nashville and about 45 minutes north of Florence, Alabama.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't.